Impact Property of Flexible Epoxy Treated Natural Fiber Reinforced PLA Composites

The modification is required for more practical applications due to the brittleness of PLA polymer. The improvement of the impact properties of PLA is an addition of fillers or reinforcements. Bamboo fiber, vetiver grass fiber and coconut fiber were used as alternative reinforcements in PLA composites. Injection molded of untreated and flexible epoxy treated composites at various reinforcement content was prepared. The impact strength of natural fiber reinforced PLA composite decreased with the increased of fiber content. The maximum reduction in impact strength was 23.8, 27.3 and 56.2% for bamboo fiber/PLA, vetiver grass fiber/PLA and coconut fiber/PLA composites, respectively. The flexible epoxy surface treatment improved impact property of bamboo fiber/PLA and coconut fiber/PLA composites when compared against the untreated composites. Unlike the other combinations, treated vetiver grass fiber/PLA composite showed less improvement in impact strength when compared with other natural fibers. Bamboo fiber proved to be the most effective reinforcement among all studied reinforcements. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.